This Parasha always comes out just before Shavuot, at least as long as you live outside of Eretz Yisrael. When the reading of the Torah in the diaspora gets out of sync with Eretz Yisrael, as we are this year, we don’t make any special attempt to correct that. The schedule will automatically sync up at the end of Bamidbar and we wait until then.
The reason for the diaspora schedule has to do with an enactment of Ezra HaSofer which calls for us to read the curses at the end of Vayikra shortly before Shavuot and the curses at the end of Devarim shortly before Rosh Hashana. We want to get curses out of the system before days of judgment. Naturally, the Gemora asks: it’s understood that there is a judgment on Rosh Hashana but what is the judgment on Shavuot? The Gemora answers with the Mishna in Rosh Hashana that calls Shavuot a day of judgment on the fruits of the trees.
That judgment on Shavuot is the topic of the Derasha on the second day of the Chag. Today, we will concentrate on the juxtaposition of Bamidbar and Shavuot. The actual reading of the curses takes place one week earlier, so Bamidbar is always on this Shabbat. There is something that relates to accepting and learning Torah. I think that we see that in the Levi’im.
As we read about the counting of all of Bnei Yisrael we also see that the Levi’im are separated out. There is a count of everyone else, and a separate count of the Levi’im. In some ways, this puts some distance between us. They are the ones who delve into Torah full time, dedicating themselves so completely that the rest of us have a responsibility to support them.
But that does not mean that we are so separate that we can’t be like them. The Rambam’s Mishne Torah is referred to as the Yad HaChazaka, the strong hand. It is called that because it has 14 sections. The organization of those sections is one of the wondrous things about the work. He knows where each Halacha fits, and he conveys other messages and meanings just through their arrangement.
At the end of the seventh section, he brings a famous Halacha. He has been laying out the responsibilities of the Levi’im and he announces that their status is in fact open to all. “Lo Shevet Levi Bilvad,” the Rambam says, not just the Levi’im can dedicate their lives to divine service. Anyone can take on these types of roles if they are moved to do so. The Rambam has put this Halacha squarely in the middle of the work. It is the heart of the Torah. Just as the Levi’im march in the middle of the people, so the Halachot about them comes in the middle. And those Halachot culminate in opening such an exalted role to everyone. Again, that is the heart of the Torah.
And we aren’t so separate that we can’t learn from them. Everyone can learn the foundations from them. We cannot be Kohanim but we can be like the Levi’im. Kohanim have intrinsic Kedusha (holiness), but the Levi’im are like us.
What are the foundations we learn from the Levi’im? After learning longer than everyone else, they have two jobs: They take care of the doors and they take care of the singing that accompanies the offerings.
The Sefer HaChinuch explains that taking care of the doors brings honor to Hashem the King. It brings honor to the King to have set people performing certain jobs in set places and on set schedules. It redounds to the King if there are honorable people taking care of the tasks around the castle. That is an important function.
The second function, that of music, is about Simcha. This is a linchpin of religious life. During the curses in the book of Devarim, the Torah says that horrible things occur because we serve Hashem with no joy. It’s odd because the Talmud lists many sins responsible for the destruction of the Temples. The Gemora says that the cardinal sins destroyed the first Temple and that Sinas Chinom, unwarranted hatred, destroyed the second. What the Torah seems to be saying is that all of those failures have their root in a lack of Simcha. A religious life that lacks Simcha will fall into all manner of failure.
I want to add another possible enhancement linked to a lack of Simcha. In the Beracha of the Torah we say every morning, we say both that the Torah should be sweet and that our children should continue in learning it. This sounds like two separate requests but the two are connected -- sweetness in learning will lead to children wanting to continue. Joy is contagious, especially through the generations. As we enter Shavuot, we want to follow the Levi’im in striving to honor the King and in bringing joy to our learning and our service.
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